For Siri-chan - thanks for all your hard work translating my fics!

Prologue:

A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance and moments later the heavens opened and the rain began to fall. The sky was a ghastly black and the air was choked and oppressive. The few mourners gathered around the open grave, silent as the priest read his verse. It was an awful day for a funeral. The wind whipped around the edge of the grave, fluttering kimonos and blowing the long stem roses free from their place atop the mahogany coffin. The roses were white, symbolising peace and they were the only flowers permitted. The headstone had yet to be erected and in its place stood a wooden marker with a prayer etched into the surface. The kanji was hurried and unaligned, a sign that preparations had been rushed somewhat. This was true for the nature of the young man’s passing had become the talk of the city. There was a talk of witchcraft, oni and, perhaps, even the damning of his soul. It was unexplained and the lack of explanations led to fear and thus most mourners had kept away.

As the priest reached over to bless the coffin, the only female present, the young man’s mother, broke down. Her legs gave way beneath her and she would have fallen had her husband, the young man’s father, not been there to catch her. Her sobs tore through the silent congregation as she wept for her boy, her only son. Murmurs of sympathy coursed through the small group, each feeling her sorrow and her pain for no mother should have to watch her son die like that. Their prayers were not only for the young man’s soul but the mother who had been tortured by his death.

Yet her sobs ceased as the coffin was lowered into the ground and she went limp in her husband’s arms as events became too much for her. He sagged a little under her weight, his weakness showing the strain that he had been put under and a few tears wetted his cheeks for there was no greater pain for a father than to lose his only son.

A few additional words from the priest and it was over. Few of the mourners lingered, the husband was keen to get his wife home. Most others were family business contacts, here out of respect for the husband and nothing else. Only one stayed for a while longer. He was a year older than the dead man and was the only one of his friends who had dared to come. The priest spoke a few comforting words but the man asked to be left alone to say his goodbyes. The priest nodded, and he silently did as requested.

The man knelt down on the very edge of the grave and bowed his head, his lips moving in a silent prayer. He had tried to help his friend but he could not have known that once marked, his friend was damned. Even death was no escape and when he finally left it was relief that the older man felt more than anything.

The storm had moved closer yet he forced himself to hold back for half an hour more before approaching the open grave, satisfied that no one would be returning. The approaching bad weather would have put off the gravediggers for now he knew.

He had been watching proceedings since they had began and, as he climbed into the open grave to join the coffin, he felt anxiety build up inside him once more. He placed his shaking hands atop of the wooden lid and slid it open with ease. The young man inside appeared to humans as though he was dead, his eyes were closed and he was wearing the traditional burial kimono that was customary for the times. He looked at peace now, parted from the torture and the pain that he had been forced to endure for the last two weeks. How the older man wished that it could stay this way and it pained him greatly that the coffin was not to be the younger man’s final resting place.

Then, as the wind got up further and disturbed his sandy blonde hair, his eyes shot open and he inhaled deeply.

“L-Luka?” His voice was quiet and strained, as his vision came back into focus and he looked slowly around, his tranquil expression twisting into one of horror and fear when he finally realised where he was. That he was lying in his own coffin.

He tried to push himself up but his limbs would not quite work and Luka ended up grasping the younger man’s hands and pulling him into his arms. “It’s alright,” he murmured, cursing himself for his part in his pain and feeling the younger man tentatively returning his embrace, “it’s alright, Kei.”

Kei bit back a sob and his trembling increased. At this, Luka felt a spark of fury directed at the monster that had began this but none of that mattered now. Luka was aware that he had been followed. He had managed to lose their pursuer for a short time but he knew that he would pick up the scent again sooner or later. The monster wanted blood and was angered at having been denied it. Now it would want Kei and would do whatever was necessary to have him.

Still holding onto Kei, Luka climbed out of the grave, barely realised that Kei was speaking to him again. “Am… am I dead?” He asked as Luka released him, but still holding into Kei’s shoulders as though the younger man would fall should he let him go.

“No,” Luka shook his head, whilst casting a wary glance at the landscape around them.

“But… that’s my grave. You pulled me out of my coffin!” Came the shrill reply and Kei pulled away from him, forcing himself to stand on his own as he stared at the marker over his grave.

“I know,” Luka turned, seeing a darkened shape move out of the corner of his eye. “Kei, we need to go. Now.”

“No…” Kei shook his head and took a step away, his trust in Luka all but broken now. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

The shape was getting closer now, moving at an increased pace and weaving in and out of the headstones.

In desperation and fear, Luka lunged forward and grabbed hold of Kei by the wrist, intending to drag him away but in that second the beast was upon them in a whirlwind of fury and snarls.

Luka took the blow directly in the chest, feeling Kei being torn from his grasp as he fell. His back struck the wood and it took him several seconds to register that he was now the one lying inside the open coffin and that the monster was looming over him.

“Luka, you are so predictable,” the beast smiled, displaying a full set of fangs. The second blow he struck was quick and decisive and Luka’s blood rapidly soaked his clothes, pouring from the gash in his throat. Fear clouded his vision but not before he saw Kei rush at the beast, trying to come to Luka’s aide somehow. However, even if Kei had realised that he was no longer human, his strength paled in comparison and the beast easily caught hold of him, twisting his arm until the bone broke. Kei cried out, sagging slightly against the monster until he was thrown to the ground.

“So predictable,” the beast repeated as he leaned over the coffin, reaching out to caress his sire’s cheek. “Do you honestly think that saving one can make up for the thousands that our kind slaughtered?”

Luka tried to reply but the only sound that came out was a bloodied gurgle and this pleased the beast even more.

“Or perhaps you sought to have him replace me? You planned to leave me and take him with you. Was that it, Luka? Maybe you just wanted him for yourself? Either way, he was mine and I hate it when what’s mine is taken from me. Although I suppose in a way I should thank you. He is new to this world and his naivety can be shaped into whatever form I so desire. However, that being said you cheated me from a kill and for that I should kill you.”

“Then go ahead,” Luka managed to respond, his throat healing enough now to allow him this. “Take your vengeance out on me, not Kei.”

The beast threw back his head and laughed at this statement, “Luka, Luka, forever the martyr. I think I’ll kill you and take my vengeance out on Kei.”

The blood loss had dulled Luka’s senses and the strike that the beast dealt him was such that he wouldn’t have been surprised had his head been removed from his shoulders by the power behind it. As it was, his skull smashed back into the wooden base of the coffin. Red and black stars flashed before his vision and when he was finally able to focus again, the beast was already sliding the lid of the coffin back in place again.

“I wonder how long you’ll survive inside there,” the beast mused sadistically. “A few weeks, months, years perhaps? Maybe I’ll stop by from time to time and see how you’re doing in there but for now I’ll amuse myself with your new toy.”

Seconds later Luka was plunged into darkness.